Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez, left), her father Julian (John Leguizamo) and Elliott (Mark Wahlberg) watch the latest news about a widening crisis. Photo credit: Zade Rosenthal TM and © Twentieth Century Fox. All rights reserved. Not for sale or duplication.
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If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.
-Albert Einstein
Rating: Kernel
What is The Happening? Is it a terrorist attack? A vicious swarming of killer bees? An environmental chemical warfare?
One morning, the nice sunny sky over Central Park quickly turns into dark heavy clouds. There’s a strong wind sweeping through the park. All of a sudden, people start walking backwards and committing suicide. What’s happening?
In Philadelphia, Julian (John Leguizamo) and his daughter Jess (Ashlyn Sanchez) are about to take the train with his friend Elliott (Mark Wahlberg) and his wife Alma (Zooey Deschanel) when they hear the news that the “terrorist attack” is spreading across the Northeast. They try to escape to the Pennsylvania farmlands where they think they’ll be safe, but in fact, there is no safe zone. As this mysterious happening begins to close in on them, they must find an escape before it’s too late…but what’s The Happening?
M. Night Shyamalan’s intense thriller stars Mark Wahlberg (Shooter, We Own The Night), John Leguizamo (The Babysitters, Love in the Time of Cholera), Zooey Deschanel (Live Free or Die, The Assassination of Jesse James) and Ashlyn Sanchez (Crash). The acting in The Happening is fairly good, but Zooey Deschanel looks pretty blah playing the role of Alma. She is too straight-faced to be playing the role of a woman who is fearing the mysterious power behind the thousands of suicides in the Northeast.
What I like about The Happening is how M. Night Shyamalan keeps us in suspense about the origins of this “happening” by providing us with various contradicting clues. He shows us various news broadcasts that say it’s a terrorist attack. He also sets on Alma’s coffee table a bee-shaped brass ornament, which Alma places her buzzing cell phone beside. This creates the thought that perhaps what’s sweeping the Northeast could be a swarming of killer bees. Although he does good job at keeping us in suspense about the origins of this mystery, I find that in several situations what’s about to happen is quite predictable.
The Happening is probably the worst movie M. Night Shyamalan has ever made. With its predictability and its mediocre acting, The Happening is not worth spending $20+ to see at the cinema. Your best bet is to wait for its DVD release in a few months from now or watch one of his other movies.
Release Date: June 13th, 2008
5 Comments, Comment or Ping
admin
I went to see this last night and wasn’t impressed with the cinema’s service. On Wednesday I had looked at the show times for Friday for “The Happening”. The website stated that the first show started at 6:30pm. I arrived around 6:10pm because I was expecting a packed house, but found it quite empty. We were about 20-30 people by 6:30pm but the previews hadn’t started. Looked at my watch….and it was 6:35…then 6:40….then 6:45…still no previews. One guy went into the lobby to find out what was going on and they told us that one of the managers imputed the wrong times for “The Happening” and that it was really starting at 7:15pm. I saw the in-theater previews (the ones before the play before the real previews start) several times, I could probably quote the every word from them.
On another note, I was laughing when I saw John Leguizamo on screen . My first impression of him in this movie reminded me of how comical and sarcastic he was at “The Babysitters” press junket in NYC.
Jun 14th, 2008
bbrian017
Sweet I’m off to rent it now! Looks awesome and friend also mentioned it to me!
Darn it’s still i the theater I guess I’ll wait!
Jun 14th, 2008
Jaden @ Screenwriting for Hollywood
This is what I feared. I love all the advertising and concepts for his movies, but they fall flat. He’s a terrible closer — good thing he ain’t selling used cars, he’d be broke.
By the way, my favorite movie of his didn’t make your list. It’s “Unbreakable.”
Jun 15th, 2008
admin
I agree! The advertising looked so great, but the movie didn’t live up to all the hype (it reminds me of Cloverfield and the inspiration behind the creation of SizzlingPopcorn.com).
“Unbreakable”…I’ve never seen it. I’ll check it out in the next few weeks if I can find it. A couple of weeks ago I said I would post a review of American Graffiti but Blockbuster didn’t have it. I’ll have to see if they have this one!
Jun 15th, 2008
tazdog
I was really disappointed.
I was expecting more from M. Night Shyamalan.
The hype and advertising sure didn’t live up to the movie.. What a shame!
Jun 15th, 2008
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